Blu-ray Review: THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (Second Sight UK RB)
This is it.
Dan O'Bannon's The Return of the Living Dead, my favorite movie ever, has finally been given the home video treatment it deserves. No more augmented audio, no more full-screen transfers, no more stupid zombie "commentary" tracks, just a good solid presentation of the original film, the way it was meant to be seen and heard with several hours of comprehensive bonus material. A godsend for fans who've been shafted over and over by inferior releases.
As I've mentioned in several previous pieces, The Return of the Living Dead is a film that speaks to all of my obsessions and came into my life at just the right time. While I was learning to channel my anger and frustration with all of the assholes in the world through music, I was also expanding my cinematic vocabulary, and horror films were tops on the list of interests. The Return of the Living Dead is not only one of the first films to combine the two elements, but it is far and away the most successful and respectful of both, even twenty-seven years later.
The film was co-written and directed by Dan O'Bannon, who had previously written Alien and co-written and co-starred in John Carpenter's feature debut, Dark Star. He shared the writing credit with John Russo, one of the producers of the original Night of the Living Dead, who was eager to cash in on the success of the "Living Dead" name. It was O'Bannon, legendarily a tyrant on the set, who crafted RotLD into one of the most enduring horror films of the '80s and one of the most successful horror comedies ever made. His attention to detail, along with the contributions of the production designer, William Stout, and the effects work of Bill Munn, Kenny Myers, and Tony Gardner, led to the film containing some of the most enduring practical effects gags in horror film history, like the half-corpse woman and what it probably the finest zombie make up ever created, the Tar Man.
The mix of extremely solid fright gags, fantastic comedy, and a razor sharp script from O'Bannon have made The Return of the Living Dead one for the ages. The concept of incorporating punk rockers, notorious outcasts and often aficionados of the darker side of life, into his horror-comedy seemed novel then, but who would have thought that the concept would survive. It's a combination that's been attempted from time to time since, but no product has ever approached this film in terms of quality or timelessness.
I watched this film for what seems like the one millionth time tonight, and, in what is the greatest testament to a great film, I could have easily rewound to the beginning and watched it all over again. Every scene feels fresh, and no matter how many times I've seen the gags or heard the iconic lines, they never fail to bring a smile to my face. Yes, The Return of the Living Dead is as close as the world has come to creating a perfect piece of entertainment in my eyes.
The Disc:
There has been a lot of speculation when it comes to this UK Blu-ray from Second Sight, and I can happily confirm that every part of the film's soundtrack that has gotten fucked with over the years has been unfucked on this release. The image quality is as solid as any '80s low budget horror feature I've seen. The '80s were not a good time for film preservation, and certainly not preservation of films like these. The film stock was shoddy, and even in their inaugural runs, films often looked murky and washed out, simply because the color film of the era was very mediocre. In this case, I can happily report that the image looks about the same as the US Blu-ray, and significantly better than any previous DVD release. There is plenty of detail in close-ups, and darker scenes show appropriate amount of grain from the high-speed film that would have been necessary to capture the images.
The audio is a much more complicated subject. Ever since the film first hit home video on VHS back in the day, the audio has been getting fucked with by various entities. Sometimes it was O'Bannon tweaking a line, sometimes it was someone else adjust the tenor of a zombie's voice to make it "scarier", and most obviously, it was often due to rights issues with the fantastic mid-80's punk/death rock soundtrack. When Second Sight announced that they'd secured the original audio track, I was so excited that I gave that piece of information its own news post, though I was still rather dubious. Having finally watched the film with the original audio for the first time in over a decade, and I finally smile and tell you that it is worth your money. The Tar Man's voice is not pitch corrected, nor is the "Send more cops" zombie, The Damned's "Dead Beat Dance" is back in there, The Tall Boys' "Take a Walk" has been reinstated to it's original length, and all is right with the world. In fact, as I was toggling between the audio tracks during the more contested scenes of the film, I actually found that in addition to being corrected for authenticity, the original audio is often mixed better, though there are a couple of occasions on which the music drowns out the dialogue, but I know those lines so well, I'm content to let them fade back into the mix.
Another area in which this release excels is the inclusion of the fantastic documentary, More Brains: A Return to the Living Dead, which I have previously reviewed. Rather than going over that one again, he's my opinion from back then:
In addition to this fantastic piece of behind the scenes history, Second Sight have also contracted Severin Films to produce several original interview pieces with key personnel, and they are all fantastic. We get an interview with a mildly megalomaniacal John Russo about how it was all his idea and he deserves all of the credit for the film's success. We get interviews with production designer Bill Stout, one-time FX artist Bill Munn, and the creator of the half-corpse, Tony Gardner. This featurette mirrors much of the stuff covered in the documentary, but it is still interesting. The last major original extra is an interview with 45 Grave's Dinah Cancer on her band's history and involvement with the film, along with an interview of Enigma Records' Steve Pross which is fantastic from an anecdotal standpoint, and since I'm a huge 45 Grave fan, it was lovely to see Ms Cancer still doing her thing.
Also included, but not available at the time of this review is a twenty page notebook from enbalmer Ernie Kaltenbrunner. If I can get my hands on this piece of ephemera I will add to the review.
Second Sight has done a remarkable job with this disc, and it is well worth your money. The only things missing are the making-of featurette and commentary from the first US DVD, but the replacement documentary and original audio means that if you're looking for one edition to commit to, this is the one. I'll be keeping all of my previous editions because I love this film like no other, but if you're a fan, you need this one. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Buyer beware: REGION B LOCKED
Dan O'Bannon's The Return of the Living Dead, my favorite movie ever, has finally been given the home video treatment it deserves. No more augmented audio, no more full-screen transfers, no more stupid zombie "commentary" tracks, just a good solid presentation of the original film, the way it was meant to be seen and heard with several hours of comprehensive bonus material. A godsend for fans who've been shafted over and over by inferior releases.
As I've mentioned in several previous pieces, The Return of the Living Dead is a film that speaks to all of my obsessions and came into my life at just the right time. While I was learning to channel my anger and frustration with all of the assholes in the world through music, I was also expanding my cinematic vocabulary, and horror films were tops on the list of interests. The Return of the Living Dead is not only one of the first films to combine the two elements, but it is far and away the most successful and respectful of both, even twenty-seven years later.
The film was co-written and directed by Dan O'Bannon, who had previously written Alien and co-written and co-starred in John Carpenter's feature debut, Dark Star. He shared the writing credit with John Russo, one of the producers of the original Night of the Living Dead, who was eager to cash in on the success of the "Living Dead" name. It was O'Bannon, legendarily a tyrant on the set, who crafted RotLD into one of the most enduring horror films of the '80s and one of the most successful horror comedies ever made. His attention to detail, along with the contributions of the production designer, William Stout, and the effects work of Bill Munn, Kenny Myers, and Tony Gardner, led to the film containing some of the most enduring practical effects gags in horror film history, like the half-corpse woman and what it probably the finest zombie make up ever created, the Tar Man.
The mix of extremely solid fright gags, fantastic comedy, and a razor sharp script from O'Bannon have made The Return of the Living Dead one for the ages. The concept of incorporating punk rockers, notorious outcasts and often aficionados of the darker side of life, into his horror-comedy seemed novel then, but who would have thought that the concept would survive. It's a combination that's been attempted from time to time since, but no product has ever approached this film in terms of quality or timelessness.
I watched this film for what seems like the one millionth time tonight, and, in what is the greatest testament to a great film, I could have easily rewound to the beginning and watched it all over again. Every scene feels fresh, and no matter how many times I've seen the gags or heard the iconic lines, they never fail to bring a smile to my face. Yes, The Return of the Living Dead is as close as the world has come to creating a perfect piece of entertainment in my eyes.
The Disc:
There has been a lot of speculation when it comes to this UK Blu-ray from Second Sight, and I can happily confirm that every part of the film's soundtrack that has gotten fucked with over the years has been unfucked on this release. The image quality is as solid as any '80s low budget horror feature I've seen. The '80s were not a good time for film preservation, and certainly not preservation of films like these. The film stock was shoddy, and even in their inaugural runs, films often looked murky and washed out, simply because the color film of the era was very mediocre. In this case, I can happily report that the image looks about the same as the US Blu-ray, and significantly better than any previous DVD release. There is plenty of detail in close-ups, and darker scenes show appropriate amount of grain from the high-speed film that would have been necessary to capture the images.
The audio is a much more complicated subject. Ever since the film first hit home video on VHS back in the day, the audio has been getting fucked with by various entities. Sometimes it was O'Bannon tweaking a line, sometimes it was someone else adjust the tenor of a zombie's voice to make it "scarier", and most obviously, it was often due to rights issues with the fantastic mid-80's punk/death rock soundtrack. When Second Sight announced that they'd secured the original audio track, I was so excited that I gave that piece of information its own news post, though I was still rather dubious. Having finally watched the film with the original audio for the first time in over a decade, and I finally smile and tell you that it is worth your money. The Tar Man's voice is not pitch corrected, nor is the "Send more cops" zombie, The Damned's "Dead Beat Dance" is back in there, The Tall Boys' "Take a Walk" has been reinstated to it's original length, and all is right with the world. In fact, as I was toggling between the audio tracks during the more contested scenes of the film, I actually found that in addition to being corrected for authenticity, the original audio is often mixed better, though there are a couple of occasions on which the music drowns out the dialogue, but I know those lines so well, I'm content to let them fade back into the mix.
Another area in which this release excels is the inclusion of the fantastic documentary, More Brains: A Return to the Living Dead, which I have previously reviewed. Rather than going over that one again, he's my opinion from back then:
More Brains leaves no stone unturned and mines every aspect of the film, its production, its scripting, and its ultimate unexpected success. The interviewees include every living member of the main cast, the producer, the special effects teams, including one guy who got fired halfway through the shoot, and incredibly, even the Tarman himself turns up to share his own memories. The only significant omission from the main feature is writer/director Dan O'Bannon, who unfortunately passed away before the documentary was filmed. However, the extra features do include O'Bannon's final filmed interview, about 30 minutes worth of recollections from Return of the Living Dead and his other unreleased horror feature, Resurrection.You can find my full review of the documentary, as well as the bonus features, which are also included on this Blu-ray, all in HD, among the links below.
In addition to this fantastic piece of behind the scenes history, Second Sight have also contracted Severin Films to produce several original interview pieces with key personnel, and they are all fantastic. We get an interview with a mildly megalomaniacal John Russo about how it was all his idea and he deserves all of the credit for the film's success. We get interviews with production designer Bill Stout, one-time FX artist Bill Munn, and the creator of the half-corpse, Tony Gardner. This featurette mirrors much of the stuff covered in the documentary, but it is still interesting. The last major original extra is an interview with 45 Grave's Dinah Cancer on her band's history and involvement with the film, along with an interview of Enigma Records' Steve Pross which is fantastic from an anecdotal standpoint, and since I'm a huge 45 Grave fan, it was lovely to see Ms Cancer still doing her thing.
Also included, but not available at the time of this review is a twenty page notebook from enbalmer Ernie Kaltenbrunner. If I can get my hands on this piece of ephemera I will add to the review.
Second Sight has done a remarkable job with this disc, and it is well worth your money. The only things missing are the making-of featurette and commentary from the first US DVD, but the replacement documentary and original audio means that if you're looking for one edition to commit to, this is the one. I'll be keeping all of my previous editions because I love this film like no other, but if you're a fan, you need this one. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Buyer beware: REGION B LOCKED
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